Hi All,

Does anyone have any experience with early model Antal winches? Our 235 came with two speed winches and I thought it would be wise to give them a service as the starboard one especially seems to be carrying a great deal of load when lifting the keel. I have bought the service packs c/w four replacement pawls and springs but when I removed the spiral circlip and lifted the body only two pawls are accessible. I contacted the UK Antal main agent who supplied me with an exploded diagram showing the winches fitted to be the 2001 model and this can only be dismantled to access the hidden pawls by removing the winch from the coach roof and undoing a screw underneath the baseplate. The next model of the same winch has a different arrangement allowing it to be dismantled without removing the baseplate.

Having removed the access plate beneath the winch, I find the five retaining nuts are glassed in and look as though they have never been removed. Does anyone have experience of removing one of these winches - and, moreover, any advice about sealing them when fitting them back?

Many thanks,

Adrian

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I've removed some clutches. The nuts were not glassed in, just painted over with flow coat. There's a good chance the winches will be the same.

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Thanks for this Mike - that makes perfect sense and I think you are right. Did you re-finish inside with flowcoat once you had replaced the clutches? Also, what sealant did you use between the clutches and the outer hull?

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Well to be honest I haven't got round to putting the clutches back on yet. I wasn't planning to replace the flow coat, but only because I don't have any, and I'm just going to use ordinary silicone sealant. Tell me if I will regret that, I'm quite new to this game.

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I can't tell you whether you need to replace the flow coat as I'm newer to this than you are! The nuts securing the clutches on mine show some rust staining coming through the flow coat, which I suspect has cracked over time. My guess is that some sealant over the top of the nuts would be fine as it is more flexible - so long as you can remove it easily with a solvent when you next need to maintain the clutches/winches. Otherwise use grease and inspect at regular intervals?

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